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June of 2008 marks the 35th annivesary
of the Roger Wilson Guitar Studio of Atlanta, Georgia. The
first location was at 220 Pharr Road in the Buckhead
neighborhood of North Atlanta, from 1973 to 1980. It was
then located at 2796 Piedmont Road from 1980 unitl 1985. The
business operated fulltime during that period, but is still
in existence today in Kennesaw, GA on a part time basis.
During the 12 years in Atlanta, hundreds of people passed
through learning guitar from local instructor, Roger Wilson.
He is now a national Blues-Rock-Americana-Folk
guitarist/singer/songwriter now known internationally as
Roger "Hurricane" Wilson. The story of the studio is an
interesting one. In early 1973, Roger was living in his home
state of New Jersey, but was wanting to return to Georgia
after having attended high school there from 1967 to 1972.
He had already been exposed to and was now saturated with
the desire to pursue music as a lifetime career. A friend
made a few phone calls looking for any possible music
oriented job opportunites and came across a gentleman named
Sidney Ayscue, who owned and operated the Buckhead Music
Studio in North Atlanta. Roger and Sidney talked several
times on the phone and it was decided that Roger could go to
Atlanta and make a go of this potential opportunity. When
Roger arrived back in Atlanta in June of 1973 at age 19,
Sidney allowed him to move into a room in the studio by
agreeing to try to expand, but realistically build a guitar
teaching business. Roger's only teaching experience was
about 6 months at a little music store in Matawan, New
Jersey, while his knowledge of the guitar and music was
already that of 10 years. The studio was then named the
Atlantis Music Studio, which placed it in the "A" section of
the Yellow Pages. Roger & Sidney worked together for about a
year before Sidney was starting to lose interest in teaching
and was wanting to change his life's direction. One day in
August of 1974 while sitting at his desk in his small
studio, the phone company called inquiring on the overdue
phone bill. When Roger explained to the gentleman on the
phone the situation of lately not seeing his partner around
for a few days, the writing on the wall was evident that a
necessary quick change would have to be made. Roger was a
year into teaching fulltime, and was making a satisfactory
living giving guitar lessons. He still needed the phone, but
would have to open a new account, under a new name. The
phone company guy stated that the Atlantis Music Studio
account was now delinquent and asked Roger what name he
would like to use. In having to make a split second
decision, he told the gentleman to open the account under
"The Roger Wilson Guitar Studio". As he said that, the words
seem to fall out like a 2 ton boulder. Roger wondered who in
the world would ever take him seriously. The next day, he
walked around the corner to the phone company and put down
the $50.00 deposit, which seemed like a fortune at the time,
on the new phone service. From that day on, the journey
began. |
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